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Thursday, July 24, 2014
It's Easier to Think it Than Write it
Hello, everyone! I am in the middle of reading Smarter Than You Think and the author, Clive Thompson, makes multiple valid points about how people think and act. Something that he mentions is when people write, they are pulling "half-formed thoughts on the page," and they are able to evaluate how they write more efficiently which is why that when writers begin writing, they usually figure out how to write their thoughts without it sounding confusing. For me, this is pretty accurate, to some extent. While taking written exams, I usually start actively jumping from idea to idea and just write. However, sometimes as I am writing I write exactly what I think, which might just end up being scrambled words. While taking written exams, this usually isn't a problem, I can just erase what I wrote and rephrase it! We've all had that moment where we say something out loud that doesn't quite make sense then quickly say "It makes sense in my head!" to save ourselves from embarrassment. That has been happening to me quite a lot, even right now as I type these words, as a matter of fact. Oh, the wonderful use of a backspace button! Now, where the trouble comes in is writing our summer homework in pen. I've noticed that yes, I can gather my thoughts pretty well and write it down without a problem, but then there comes that one word that I misspell from writing to fast, or I start a new sentence with a word that I didn't want to use, like "They" instead of "The". I hate being the messy type when it comes to pens, so I won't scribble it out. Instead, I just sit there thinking "What have I done!?" and try to regain my thoughts and how I could rephrase the sentence. Hopefully as I write more in pen through out the school year I will write more professionally. Is anyone else having this problem? I hope I am not alone on this!
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Treat your notebook like an artist's sketchbook. Scribble stuff out, abandon paragraphs that don't work. A notebook is a writer's thinking tool. Thompson uses that Feynman anecdote early on...it's not a record of thinking...it IS the thinking, part of the process. You must abandon the urge for perfection.
ReplyDeleteI've also been reading Thompson's book. When I read about his explanation for our thinking and writing patterns I began noticing that I do the same thing too. Usually I tend to write down my random ideas on paper and then gather them into sentences. I do this with my notebook too where I'll write down my answers and thoughts on a separate sheet of paper and then transfer it into my notebook. I'm going to take Ms. Fletcher's and Thompson's advice and try to just write in my thoughts in my notebook even though it might be a bit messy.
ReplyDeleteHey Bailee! I can't tell you how many times something sounds intelligent in my mind, but when I write it down or even say it out loud, it sounds ridiculous. For example, when we used to have discussions about our daily writing in Mr. Eastham's class, we would take turns giving the class our opinions and as we did so, Mr. Eastham would occasionally question us and make us second (sometimes even third) guess our selves, until we finally got our point across clearly. At the time, we probably just saw it as him chipping in on the discussion, but now we can see that he wasn't always trying to argue against our point; he was trying to make us prove it and get it across in the clearest way possible, even if it took a few tries.
ReplyDeleteBailee, you make an interesting point that I have also noticed myself. I'm sure everyone is so used to writing out exactly what we think in our head, that we've been so accustomed of believing that what we write down will make sense. However, as some may say, it's better to say it out loud first before you write, then you'll be set! But, I am also grateful for white out (if writing on paper) and the backspace button (if typing). I agree with you that once we get more used to writing in pen more, we'll get better as we go along.
ReplyDeleteHey Bailee! (: Don't worry, you are definitely not alone in this. I am the same way. It is so difficult for me to write down my thoughts because they dont always come out right when I write them. When I write something down that doesn't sound right, I will sit there for what seems like forever to try and reword it to make it make sense. My thoughts are everywhere so I need to make sure everything flows and it's not a bunch of random ideas. Also, if you don't like scribbling out your messed up words, just use white out!
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